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A new milestone was achieved in the construction of Quincy’s bypass.
The passage between U.S. 90 and Highway 12 includes one bridge, visible from Havana Highway when looking south. This span is necessary to traverse the Quincy Creek and the swampy lowlands between the two existing roads. Structurally, the bridge is now sound. Construction personnel can drive and walk over it at will.

Even a landfill eventually reaches its expiration date. One, past due, was a topic of lengthy discussion at the July 22 Quincy City Commission meeting.
The commissioners considered closing Cell 9 of the Quincy-Byrd landfill. The 5.4-acre cell is one of 11 constituting the entire landfill.
Cell 9 was originally permitted as a Class III landfill, a designation allowing for the dumping of household waste. The cell, however, was never used in this fashion, serving instead as a repository for land clearing-debris or LCD.

Drivers’ speed on Quincy’s King Street has been a source of complaints at the city meetings for weeks. Commissioner Andy Gay, in particular, has spoken about the desire to slow vehicles along this road while acknowledging the finite number of officers available to enforce traffic laws all over the city.
“King has become a major east/west route for motorist driving through the city,” said Glenn Sapp, assistant police chief. “Almost a mile has no traffic signals or stop signs.”

The Gadsden County Court House, a local landmark, is in trouble. Like much aging architecture, recent years haven’t been kind to the government building. The roof was recently replaced after leaks developed — and now the walls show signs of the same problem.
Nicholas Thomas, Gadsden County Clerk of Courts, raised the issue at the July 15 BoCC meeting. He cited an air-quality report that positively detected and identified at least eight specific types of mold growing inside the historic building.

A woman, eight months pregnant, called 911 early in the morning hours on July 20, according to her own sworn statement, when a Havana man she let into her home began beating her and threatening to kill her.
The suspect, Richard David Jordan, 33, allegedly appeared at the woman’s residence around 2 a.m. - knocking on a window and yelling to be let in. Once allowed inside, she reported he was drunk and argumentative.
But when she told him to leave, the beating began.

When do higher taxes cost less?
According to talk at the July 15 meeting of The Gadsden Commission, county taxpayers with property that has dropped in value might still pay less even though the 2014-15 millage rate used to calculate property tax will be higher than the 2013-14 rate.
Millage rates represent tenths of pennies, a decimal then multiplied by the total taxable property value.
Commission Chairman Eric Hinson proposed a 9.1443 rate, arguing that the county had a responsibility to stay out of the red and meet budget.

Jamareous Highman, said he wasn’t doing much talking this past Saturday night. He was saving his voice — because early in the morning on July 20, he was on his way to audition in Tallahassee for American Idol’s Season 14.
The singer was willing, however, to answer a few questions during a Times interview.
Highman, 23, has been performing since age 6 or 7 when he became involved with music at his church — an experience the Quincy man said “fostered a love for singing.”

The fourth annual Rural County Summit drew participants from near and far - and from a wide range of agencies - who were all interested in learning more about emergency management and disaster relief from professionals who have dealt with some of the most harrowing scenarios on recent record.